President Barack Obama is expected to meet with Vladimir Putin at the Russian president’s request, the White House said Thursday. The two leaders will meet Monday on the sidelines at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. The meeting comes amid mounting tension over Ukraine and Syria, which the two leaders will discuss in a formal sitdown. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the meeting with reporters in Russia. Earnest said Obama will use the meeting to pressure Putin into living up to an agreement against supporting pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine. The two haven’t had a formal, scheduled meeting since June 2013 on the sidelines of a meeting of the G-8 Summit in Ireland.
